H78: Identifying the purpose of a link using link text combined with its enclosing
paragraph

Important Information about Techniques

See Understanding Techniques for WCAG Success Criteria for important information about the usage of these informative techniques and how they relate to the normative WCAG 2.0 success criteria. The Applicability section explains the scope of the technique, and the presence of techniques for a specific technology does not imply that the technology can be used in all situations to create content that meets WCAG 2.0.

User Agent and Assistive Technology Support Notes

Description

The objective of this technique is to identify the purpose of a link from the link in
its paragraph context. The paragraph enclosing the link provides context for an
otherwise unclear link when the paragraph is the nearest enclosing block-level ancestor
element. The description lets a user distinguish this link from links in the Web page
that lead to other destinations and helps the user determine whether to follow the link.
Note that simply providing the URI of the destination is generally not sufficiently
descriptive.

Note: These descriptions will be most useful to the user if the additional information
needed to understand the link precedes the link. If the additional information follows
the link, there can be confusion and difficulty for screen reader users who are
reading through the page in order (top to bottom).

Examples

Example 1

Announcements column on a Folk Festival Web page.

Example Code:

<h3>The final 15</h3>
<p>Coming soon to a town near you...the final 15 in the
National Folk Festival lineup.
<a href="final15.html">[Read more...]</a>
</p>
<h3>Folk artists get awards</h3>
<p>Performers from the upcoming National Folk Festival receive
National Heritage Fellowships.
<a href="nheritage.html">[Read more...]</a>
</p>
…

Tests

Procedure

Check that text of the link combined with the text of its enclosing paragraph
describes the purpose of the link.

Expected Results

The above checks are true.

If this is a sufficient technique for a success criterion, failing this test procedure does not necessarily mean that the success criterion has not been satisfied in some other way, only that this technique has not been successfully implemented and can not be used to claim conformance.